The Secrets of Successful Aging (Part 1)

What Science Tells Us About Growing Older -- And Staying Healthy By TARA PARKER-POPE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL June 20, 2005

Today, the average person in the U.S. lives for nearly 78 years. But what about those people who beat the average? Why do some men and women defy the chronological odds to live longer and in good health?

Increasingly, the scientific community is shifting its focus to this elite group, these "successful agers" who seem to be doing a better job of getting old than the rest of us.

And what they're finding isn't what you'd expect.

Some of the reasons people age well are obvious. For years we've been told that the best way to stay healthy is to eat the right foods, maintain a healthy weight, exercise -- and hope you have good genes. While all of that is true, a voluminous body of aging research shows that some of the most significant enemies of old age are far more insidious than a penchant for fried food or a couch-potato lifestyle. Instead, how well we age may be intrinsically tied to our most basic personality traits, the social relationships we have formed and -- perhaps most important -- our ability to cope with stress.

"We now know that aging is about a body that doesn't deal well with stress anymore," says Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford University neuroendocrinologist and a leading stress researcher.

（此照片转载自爱生云鹤的Blog，谢谢）

Do you believe that the man in the picture is 72 years old? He is from Hubei of China and has retired. He practiced Soaring Crane Qigong since March, 1989.

Living to the Max

Scientists estimate that the maximum potential life span of the human body is about 120 years, give or take. They came to this conclusion after observing the oldest ages achieved by a variety of organisms, noting that aging, no matter what the species, seemed to follow a consistent mathematical formula. The maximum age achieved by any species appears to equal about six times the number of years from birth to biological maturity. So humans, who take about 20 years to reach maturity, have the potential to live six times as long as that -- or about 120 years. Notably, the oldest well-documented human age is 122. [aging art]

Genetics likely plays some part in the ability to reach an extreme old age, and scientists are on a heated quest to identify the so-called longevity genes. But genetics can only take you so far. Studies of Swedish twins who were raised apart showed that only about 30% of aging can be explained by genes. In other words, successful agers aren't still around simply by luck of the genetic draw. They have far more control over the aging process than once thought.

"One of the myths of aging is to choose your parents wisely," says John W. Rowe, who, before becoming chairman of Aetna Inc., served as director of the MacArthur Foundation Research on Successful Aging, one of the largest aging studies in the country. "People feel there is a genetic program they are playing out. But since only about one-third of aging is heritable, the rest is acquired -- that means you are responsible for your own old age."

So, how do you age successfully? Aging researchers are beginning to get some answers. Numerous studies of rats, monkeys, nuns, British government workers and centenarians have unlocked many of the secrets of successful aging.

Many of the answers were expected. People age better if they don't smoke, don't abuse alcohol, maintain a healthy weight and get regular exercise.

But one of the biggest culprits in unhealthy aging also gets the least respect from both the medical community and individuals: stress. Increasingly, researchers are viewing stress -- how much stress we face in a lifetime, and how well we cope with it -- as one of the most significant factors for predicting how well we age.

It may be hard to believe that stress, which most people view as an emotional state, can wreak such havoc on our physical well being. But aging studies consistently show that the healthiest agers are particularly adept at shedding stress.

.........to be continued in Part 2.

(from an e-mail we received)